


We were friends, once

by Kitexa



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-20
Updated: 2013-02-20
Packaged: 2017-11-29 23:39:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/692854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitexa/pseuds/Kitexa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An old friend pays the Professor a late night visit</p>
            </blockquote>





	We were friends, once

He’d had nightmares like this. Growing up amidst dysfunction, losing the one family member he cared for (discounting Kurt, poor chap), would, on occasion, keep him up at night. When they were children, he’d huddle in bed, sometimes at her side (when her own night terrors chased her from her room), sometimes by his pillow, seeking comfort in her slumbering conscious. _It’s alright,_ he’d tell himself, staring wide eyed at the ceiling, _she’s still here, she still loves you._

How many years he spent repeating those words…the older they grew, the more frequent for sure.

_You’re a little old for nightmares, Charles. She isn’t going anywhere._

And yet she did. With his other, only friend. Left alone for something greater. Story of his bloody life.

He’d hurt over it—he still hurt—but decades had washed more than mobility away. Roaming the halls of the Xavier mansion, the elder Xavier bore little but disheartened remorse towards the woman he’d once considered family. Time makes or breaks a man, as they say. Charles liked to believe he lay somewhere in between—

Telepath stopped, peering through the darkened pantry. He didn’t bother anymore with light. He knew the place well enough.

As did he know the…intruder lurking somewhere in the shadows.

“Raven?”

Silence.

“Raven, I know you’re there. I don’t need to read your mind to know its feel.”

The darkness scoffed, a slender form stepping free of its depths.

“Mystique.” She purred, eyes luminescent. Charles frowned, but his hands curled around his chair. He loathed tat name, but he hated, more, what she wouldn’t hesitate to do to him.

“Mystique, then. To what do I owe this..surprise?” A little smile played on his lips. Situation be damned; life and its circles never ceased to amaze him.

The younger woman (not much, but drastically so in appearance; her mutation had served her well) glared, amusement lost on her. “You think I’d just tell you?”

“No.” He answered. “However, you’re in my home, threatening my students; it’s my right as both man and mutant to acquire your intent.” Voice lowered, peeling back the mask. “I’m not the man I was, Raven. I’ve no objection taking what I need.” And it bothered him it didn’t. They should be a team—side by side, as she once envisioned…

_Oh, but you’re reminiscing, now. Old fool—have you not put the past to bed?_

Quite the contrary. They were children, friends, no longer.

“What will it be, Raven? Are you going to tell me or must I go and dig myself?”

She bristled—physically, marvelous—and he wondered, briefly, if she remembered his promise.

By the snarl in her voice, he’d guessed she would.

“Standard procedure.”

“Ah, I see.” And up went the pleasantries. Keep it light, keep it simple, don’t do anything you’d regret. “In that case, do tell Erik he’ll find no prodigies here. We’ve gathered no more since your last…investigation, and we’re in unanimous agreement you’re going about this all wrong.”

She opened her mouth—to either growl or speak, perhaps both—but Charles hastened on. “Now, I’ve no problem waking my students, but I should think such an act may lead to misinterpretation. Wouldn’t you agree?”

A pause, sudden tension suggesting internal debate. Something dark flickered behind her gaze, followed by rippling flutter; stark blue growing dark—DARK—bleeding into shadow.

“That’s what I thought. Give Erik my regards, will you?”

When no reply returned, he assumed she’d gone. A quick mental scan confirmed suspicion. Had anyone else been present, they’d have seen a curious gleam in the telepath’s eye.

The silent treatment. Some things apparently didn’t change.

**Author's Note:**

> I will forever mourn the relationship between these two.


End file.
